


Unlikely Bonds

by DancingStarQueen



Category: Ensemble Stars! (Video Game)
Genre: Leo is an honorary Oddball, Oddballs, Other, Platonic Relationships, The platonic ReiLeo content we deserve, brief mentioning of other characters, friendships
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-20
Updated: 2020-09-20
Packaged: 2021-03-07 19:14:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,439
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26552668
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DancingStarQueen/pseuds/DancingStarQueen
Summary: The students of class 3-B were uncertain about which occasion was the more rare one.One of the infamous Oddballs attending class or Leo Tsukinaga attending class.It seemed like some obscure kind of miracle that one morning, both seemed to be the case.
Relationships: Sakuma Rei/Tsukinaga Leo
Comments: 3
Kudos: 32





	Unlikely Bonds

**Author's Note:**

> I'm not saying Leo should be an honorary Oddball but like... Leo definitely should be a honorary Oddball-  
> And I'm so sad that we never got real interactions between them, especially between Leo and Rei, so I decided to write my own!  
> But as a OddballsP, of course I couldn't leave the other's out!

The students of class 3-B were uncertain about which occasion was the more rare one.  
One of the infamous Oddballs attending class or Leo Tsukinaga attending class.  
It seemed like some obscure kind of miracle that one morning, both seemed to be the case. Rei Sakuma, known as informal leader of the once glorious Oddballs, was sitting on his chair in the far back of the class; slumped over his desk with his pale face resting in the palm of his hand and strands of raven hair falling into his face. His eyes were half closed; dark shadows cast over them as he concentrated on staying awake.  
Right behind him, Leo Tsukinaga was furiously scribbling away, crayons clutched in both hands. His bright orange-red hair stood up in all directions and some strands already fell out of the messily tied ponytail as he moved around; chasing inspiration. Occasional murmurs and hums escaped his mouth, followed by low grunts whenever he crossed out notes to replace them with different ones. Leo bumped against the backrest of Rei’s chair several times in the process of turning his thoughts into seemingly uncoordinated drawings on surfaces he shouldn’t be drawing on in the first place.

Rei didn’t seem all that bothered by the constant movement behind him. However, the raven haired male couldn’t help but look up when an unfamiliar pair of hands appeared within his field of vision. Bright blue crayon streaks suddenly appeared all over his desk; the few books and papers the self-proclaimed vampire had managed to bring along carelessly pushed to the side and onto the ground. Rei looked further up and saw a pair of bright green eyes dart from left to right.

“Take that Mozart!”

_‘Leader of Knights, Tsukinaga Leo-kun. How unusual to see him around. Ah, but having him writing all over the place might be an inconvenience; to others and himself…’_ Rei glanced back down at the notes written all over the wooden surface. Leo’s works were known to be masterpieces, even overseas, and seeing him work up close was quite interesting in itself. The raven haired male would feel like it’d be a shame to have this exceptional piece of work erased later when one of their classmates would wipe down the desks during class duty. Rei pushed his chair back a little and leaned down, picking up some of the papers, that had been pushed off of the wooden surface unceremoniously by Tsukinaga before, and cleared his throat before speaking up.

“Now, now, Tsukinaga-kun. Writing on a classmate’s desk isn’t quite what one would call good behaviour, right? I don’t mind if you want to use the extra space on my desk, however, I’d prefer if you used some paper to write on. How about you give it some thought? Writing on paper will give you the possibility to continue this elsewhere too. Inspiration comes and goes at ransom, as we know.” Rei spoke, a distant smile on his lips. Leo’s head shot up when he suddenly was spoken to, the hand holding the crayon stopping in its movements as he stared into a pair of deep red eyes. His head bobbed from left to right slowly for a few seconds as if he was lost in thought. Then, suddenly, a bright grin graced his features.

“Ah, Rei! You’re here today, what a surprise! Aren’t y’all weirdos known for not being around often? But oh well, who am I to talk, right?” He asked, a laugh following as his gaze shifted towards his classmate’s pale hand. Rei was holding out a few papers to him, politely offering them instead of forcing them into his hands like the redhead is used to. Brilliant green eyes blinked once, twice, before he dropped the blue crayon and reached for the blank note sheets. “Carrying note sheets around everywhere is a bother, I don’t wanna! Buuut you’re probably right! What I’m working on easily rivals even the best of composers after all, hahaha!” Leo slammed the acquired sheets onto the desk before he reached for the crayon once more, starting to scribble notes down once more. He didn’t stop when speaking again, another question coming to his mind. “How come someone like Rei carries blank note sheets around anyways?”

Rei chuckled quietly at the question. “Someone like me? That sounds just slightly degrading Tsukinaga-kun, you wound me~ But to answer your question, even a person like me has various interests. In other words, even an old man like me gets struck by inspiration every once in a while and finds the energy to scribble down some notes. I do have a Unit to lead and push forward too, after all, just like you do ‘Ou-sama’. So I occasionally end up writing music by myself.” Hidden behind longer strands of hair, Leo’s face lit up just slightly upon the new information he filtered out of Rei’s slightly cryptic talking. Rei leaned back a little in his chair, Leo’s face suddenly too close and a little too far into his personal space.

“You write music too? Tell me more!” 

What started out as small talks about music before class turned into elaborate conversations over the course of the following weeks.  
What started with Rei’s regular reminders to use note sheets instead of various non-removable surfaces to write music on eventually ended with discussions about why Mozart wasn’t as bad as Leo liked to frame him and how Rei possibly could have the sheer audacity to claim that the composition Leo had just written onto the blackboard on a whim could use some more thought and work.

“What do you mean?! I’ve written it down so I deem it worthy enough to leave my head, there’s nothing to change about it! Rei is being mean today!” Leo whined, stomping onto the ground with one of his feet like a child. The taller male merely chuckled as he reached for a piece of chalk himself. Leo huffed quietly as he watched his classmate write onto the board, right beside his newest composition. There was nothing wrong with what he had come up with! Following his inspiration never had disappointed him before after all (or that’s what he oftentimes told himself). He short boy crossed his arms as green eyes scanned over what Rei was writing down.

“My dear Tsukinaga-kun, I am in no way telling you that what you have written down is bad. With all due respect, I think your compositions are beyond brilliant. You should know me that well by now.” Rei explained calmly, a smile ever present on his lips as he started to elaborate. “I am merely offering assistance and suggestions. Don’t you think a change of pace is nice every once in a while?” Rei stopped talking when the all too familiar weight of a certain Hibiki Wataru pressed against his back. The raven haired male huffed quietly. “Ah, another Oddballs joining class today? Please have mercy on this old man, don’t lean onto me like that. It is early in the morning after all, I am quite weak.” He spoke. Wataru laughed and patted Rei’s shoulder as he took a step back.

“I spy with my little eye… A composition contest? Ohhh are you two in some kind of battle of the composers currently~? Amazing!” Wataru grinned bright as ever and he looked back and forth between the works. “I see, I see… So Ou-sama-san was going for something a little down to earth here? The slow pace sounds like something that’d fit our dear Kanata~” His gaze moved to the right, scanning over Rei’s writing. “...Now, now Rei, isn’t it a little narcissistic to write down a composition that resembles you that much?” He teased. Rei let out an amused laughter and was about to answer, when Wataru continued talking. “How about we decide about the outcome of this little quarrel between you two after school, over a cup of tea? Let’s ask the others if they’d like to join us as well! I’ve seen Shu walk towards the handicrafts room earlier today and I’m sure Kanata and Natsume would like to join us if we just give them a call and inform them!”  
The two Oddballs looked towards Leo, who seemed lost in thought, waiting for an answer on whether or not he’d like to come along after school. After a little while the redhead seemed to finally snap out of his thoughts and forced his eyes away from the blackboard.

“Ah, sorry, sorry~ Sounds like a blast hanging out with you so I’ll give it a thought! Can’t promise you guys anything just now though. Anyways, I gotta go! I’ve just might gotten the most brilliant of all ideas and I can’t properly concentrate in this kind of cramped environment! See ya later!” Leo rushed to grab his things, messily pushing them into his bag, eyes sparkling in excitement. “I’ll be taking some more of your papers Rei, thanks!” He called from the back of the classroom, hands already full with the papers Rei had placed on his desk just in case Leo would need them. Before anyone could stop him, the short male was out the door and down the hallway. Judging by a familiar voice booming through the hallway, calling out for Leo to come back right now, the redhead passed the 3-A classroom on his way to an unknown destination.  
Rei and Wataru were left behind in the 3-B classroom, staring at the door with a mix of surprise and confusion.

“…Someone ought to text him the address of the café we are going to meet at. Just in the rare case he would like to join us after all.”

“You invited Tsukinaga here? Excuse my choice of words, but are you crazy?! He’ll only cause a ruckus, it’s bothersome.” Shu’s grip on the porcelain cup in his hands tightened just slightly.  
Right after school had ended, the 5 Oddballs have met up by the school gates and had made their way towards one of the little cafés close to campus. Wataru laughed at his friend’s sudden outburst of anger and shook his head.

“Don’t be so mean my friend~! Ou-sama-san is our dear schoolmate after all.” Wataru said, taking a sip from his own tea. “Besides, I think he and Rei still have something to settle.” He added, glancing at the mentioned Oddball. Rei hummed quietly and shook his head as he reached for his glass.  
“As I explained before, Tsukinaga-kun and I don’t have anything to ‘settle’. What happened this morning was no competition, nor was it any kind of argument. It was more of a comparison of sorts. In any way, Hibiki-kun is right. Tsukinaga-kun is our schoolmate, there’s nothing bad about inviting him to go out for some tea with us. He just recently returned to school after long absence and it seems like things aren’t quite settled yet with the other members of Knights… To put it quite frankly, each of us knows how it feels to be lonely. It such an unpleasant feeling, why don’t we try our best to keep someone else from feeling like that? Tsukinaga-kun might be a lot more similar to us than we notice now.”

“Ah, Rei-niisan has quite the helper syndrome, doesn’t hE.” Natsume mentioned with a soft hum.  
Kanata smiled serenely. “I ‘think’ it’s a nice thing to ‘do’. Helping someone feel less ‘lonely’, I mean. Rei is ‘right’, we all experienced ‘loneliness’ first hand. Leo is a ‘classmate’ of mine, I would like to get to know him a little ‘better’ myself. We never really ‘interacted’ but I think he has been through a lot too, ‘back then’-“ Kanata stopped talking when the door of the café opened, cold air coming in and carrying the laughter of a certain composer. “Ah, ‘speak’ of the devil and he ‘shall’ appear, right?”

Leo took a quick glance around the café before rushing towards the table the 5 Oddballs were seated at. “Sorry, kinda forgot to let you know I’m coming after all! I probably could’ve remembered but Rei's message was hard to read to begin with so I forgot about it all until last minute! Glad to see y’all are still here, makes things easier!” Leo unceremoniously let himself fall onto the bench right beside Shu. “C’mon Shu, don’t be like that, gimme a little space too!” He complained, slightly shoving Shu towards Natsume, who was seated by the window. Shu was about to complain about Leo’s beyond rude behaviour but was quickly drowned out by the sound of a stack of papers hitting the table.  
“Glad I was able to finish these on time! I was a little worried for a second or two but who are we kidding here, of course I’d finish these on time!” Another loud laugh followed as Leo handed out the sheets of paper.

“Alright listen up, infamous Oddballs! I, Tsukinaga Leo, am blessing you with personalized compositions! Feel honoured and praise me! Not now though because I’m not done talking. Anyways, Rei is mentioning all of you a lot in regular conversations. You should hear him, suddenly rambling about the ‘old times’. So even if I haven’t specifically spent time with all of you, not yet at least, I have a decently good picture of all of you! And this very morning, inspiration struck me!” Leo made an elaborate motion with his hands, grinning brightly and eyes sparkling as he continued.  
“Try to see it as some kind of… thanks. A thanks to the new friends I made and to those who absolutely will become friends in the future!” Despite Leo’s voice being over the top loud and his signature laughter filling the nearly empty café, his words sounded honest. It was at this moment that the Oddballs could clearly see that Leo was indeed very similar to them in a lot of ways. Some that were clear as day and some that needed to still be explored. A journey they were yet to take. The five of them looked down at the papers in their hands. Leo’s bright grin turned into a calmer smile as he watched.  
“As I said, I don’t know all of you yet. At least not well, so… gotta admit some of those might need adjustments. Just this once, the great King himself is open for suggestions and complaints of any kind! Don’t complain too much though, I wrote those with y’all in mind after all! They come from the depths of my heart!” 

_Bloody Moon Vampire_   
_Amazing World_   
_Cloth Waltz_   
_Marine-blue Rendezvous_   
_Secret Gravity_


End file.
